Elder Waggoner introduces a vital principle in relation to the cross. He states:
The cross is not a unique thing, standing apart by itself, but is the expression of all law of life. It was not a thing devised by God after the fall of man, but the continuation of that by which man was created. It was not an afterthought, but God's original thought, and the fulness of His thought from everlasting to everlasting.
The cross was not an emergency measure to meet a crisis. It was not something devised as an arbitrary response as a reaction to sin. It is the eternal principle of God’s self-denying life manifested in creation.
This is the secret of the sleep of Adam in the garden before the creation of Eve. Sleep represents death, a death to self in order to bring forth live. It is a death because to give life to another involves risk, and any suffering of the one brought into existence brings sorrow and suffering to the one who gave it.
When God brought forth His Son, He denied Himself, and entered into all the potential suffering that would come for His Son. When we as parents have children, we are intimately connected to them and pass through the joy and pain that they pass through. It is a cross to be borne.
Thus, Jesus’ death on the cross is the magnification of an eternal principle, the giving of oneself to another for their benefit and blessing.
